August 25 - Paris, France
We got into Paris in the morning, took the bus into the city, and the metro to our hostel. St. Christopher's Inn was a bit far from the city, but offered clean, modern accommodations. We stayed in a room for 6 people, bunk bed style. It was unique in the way it was built -- almost Japanese? The bed supports came right out of the wall and blended into the surrounding decor. The room had a sink, and sliding lockers underneath the beds. Each bed has it's own curtain, to compartmentalize every bed into private quarters. This hostel offered shared washrooms (non-co-ed). Again, we arrived before check-in time, so we dropped off our luggage and headed into the city. We found some lunch at a Turkish place, and I had my first Parisian croissant. I was in love! Our first touristic destination of the day: none other than the Eiffel Tower! We took a train into the area, and were following signs towards the site. Out of the blue, I caught a glimpse of it in a side street!
Our first peak at the towering hunk of metal that is the epitome of Paris today.After a drawn out photo shoot at the tower and its vicinity, we walked towards the Grand Palais, where the Pont Alexander III was located. Les Invalides houses the tomb of Napolean Bonaparte underneath the chapel's golden dome. We didn't go inside, but instead trudged towards the open grass just before the Pont Alexander III. We just sat there for awhile, taking in the scenery and taking a break from the walk. The bridge itself was beautifully decorated with statues and sculptures.
A view of the Pont Alexander III, with the Grand Palais in the background.
A view of the Pont Alexander III, with the Grand Palais in the background.We then made our way towards the infamous Champs-Elysees, passing fancy stores and restaurants towards the Arc de Triomphe.
The arch looked so close from where the bridge was, but it was much farther than anticipated. We then walked all the way back down towards Plaza de la Concorde, through the Jardin des Tuileries and onwards to Musee du Louvre. This was our meeting point for Ryan MacIsaac, our friend and co-worker from Arosa. (Although Ryan and I go back to our Sainte-Anne days in Nova Scotia.) Ryan had been there for a bit longer than us, so he started showing us around and we hung out for the rest of the day. First stop, le Notre Dame in the Ile de la Cite.
It was soon dinnertime, so we grabbed a Panini at a sandwich store and found a random spot by the Seine off of St. Germain to chow down. We were sitting behind the Notre Dame, cracking jokes from our working days and just taking in the scenery and environment (the back of the Notre Dame has a spidery structure). There were other groups of young French people having picnics by the Seine, with picnic cloths, tons of food and wine of course. After dinner, we trudged up to a bridge near the Notre Dame and chilled there while a bunch of street musicians played some music. There was the loveliest old woman ever, who was dancing by herself to the music. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. After that, we made our way back to St. Michel where we enjoyed an expensive coffee. I picked up the tab since I owed Ryan a few bucks back in Switzerland. It was also quite funny because the server totally looked down upon us. Love it when people are prejudice and condescending.
August 26 - Paris cont'd
The next morning, we went to purchase our train ticket after confirming that it was okay for Christian and Steph that we arrived in the next few days. Yay, go me and my forgotten French skills! We got a ticket on one of those speed trains to Brussels for the 28th. From the train station, we walked into the Montmartre area (where Moulin Rouge is!) and visited the Sacre Coeur on the top of the hill. We also ate our lunch of home-made sandwiches (go student budgets go!) of salami and fresh cheese in baguettes. We walked through the streets filled with sex shops, peep show theatres and sex museums and arrived at the Moulin Rouge.
After our own tour of the Monmartre, we went back to St. Michel to go on our free tour of Paris. The tour guide was a pretty cool guy, telling us stories about many of the historical monuments we walked by. After the "free" tour (they work on tip), we slowly made our way to the eiffel tower for its light show. We stuck around for awhile, and decided to walk up at least to the 2nd floor of the immense structure of steel. On our way up, Joey accidently stepped on my flip-flop and effectively broke it. Needless to say, I have an unforgettable memory of my ascent, both visual and tactile, as my feet soaked in the grime of the thousands of shoes that had walked up and down the stairs that day. It wasn't that bad actually... the cold metal was nice in the warmth of the Parisian summer evening. I also managed to temporarily fix the flip-flop for the descent.
August 27th - Paris cont'd
The next morning, we woke up bright and early to beat the crowds at the Louvre.
Reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, we went straight for the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, you know, the good stuff. I'm not a huge art fanatic, but I think I will grow to become one once I'm older and have the time and money. There were tons of cool paintings, sculptures and artifacts. After a crude tour of the Louvre, we went off to find lunch. We decided to indulge a little and get a taste of upper class Parisian cuisine. We bought a sandwich with truffles at La maison de Truffe, and took a visit to Hediard and Fauchon for some cheese and quiche. To top it off, Joey got some wine from Nicolas for himself. We had a gourmet picnic on a strip of grass off of the Champs-Elysees. The St. Fecilien au lait cru (cheese) was SOO delicious! Speaking of it now makes my mouth water! After the picnic, we made our way back to the hostel to pick up our belongings and make our way to the train station. A quick one-hour ish ride later on the Thalys train, we were already in Belgium! A whole new country and a whole new experience awaited us!
Belgium
August 28th - Bruxelles, la Belgique
Upon arrival that night, Christian and Steph picked us up from the train station. We just chilled and got settled in. We also found Rita awaiting us at their place! It was so strange to hang out with people you were so used to seeing in Toronto all together in a whole different country. Anyway, on the morning of the 28th, we were taken to the Palais de Justice and the Palais Royal, which happened to be open while we were there. (It's closed to the public 51 weeks of the year). There was an interesting display of a ceiling completely covered with beetles. How's that for art? We weren't allowed pictures, but Christian snuck one on his iPhone. I think he has yet to send it to us =P Oh well! Anyway, we drove to check out the town church and into the centre afterward and fit into a very narrow parking space via parallel parking. We then walked towards the Grande Place where we had a suculoo waffle. OMG. SOO different from the waffles we find in Toronto, but OH SO delectable! Once a year, they fill the entire square with flowers for some sort of festival. This time, we weren't there at the right time. Oh well! Later, we checked out the infamous peeing baby sculpture, that was in reality much smaller than expected. It's called the Mannekin Pis and apparently represented the co-habitation of French and Dutch-speaking people of Brussels. I also learned that the Smurfs and Tintin were Belgian, and that French fries had Belgian origins also! We went home after walking around the centre for awhile, and waited for Fred to come over after he got off work. It was so nice to see him again! (Once again, in Belgium and not Toronto for once!). We ordered some Chinese take out and had a feast at Christian and Steph's lovely and spacious home. Later that night, Christian took us out to see the Belgian balls ;) Also known as the Atomium in Heysel Park.
We called it an early night and just hung out at Steph's.
August 29th - Brussels cont'd
The next day, we saw the atomium by daylight and then headed out to the Chinese pavilion and Japanese garden, which were gifts from the Chinese and Japanese governments respectively. It wasn't too interesting to me, due to my asian roots. It was also closed, so we just hung around for a bit, then left to downtown again.
We went to a bar which hit a world record for having the most number of different beer brands in one bar. I forgot the number -- somewhere in the thousands? There was a huge binder for their beer listing.
We ended the night with some greasy Belgian french fries in a huge paper cone. Steph went so far as having a hot dog WITH fries inside it as a garnish! Needless to say we had itis afterwards. After filling up on greasy food, we went out that night to some bars with Rita instead of visiting John Kelly in Antwerp. It was too far and we didn't want to make our lovely hosts drive! Plus, Rita had just moved out from Christian and Steph's place. She had already started her internship at DHL by that time. The bar-hopping was fun. First, we passed Brussel's very own red light district and caught a man being glamoured by one of the woman in the window. I wonder what she was doing, because the man did not move his car (in this one lane road) despite the piling traffic behind him for some minutes. We got a good laugh out of it. The bar was nice, but I just don't enjoy bars as much due to my sad tolerance for alcohol. After that, we enjoyed some grand turkish food at a donar kebab place next door before heading home for the night.
The arch looked so close from where the bridge was, but it was much farther than anticipated. We then walked all the way back down towards Plaza de la Concorde, through the Jardin des Tuileries and onwards to Musee du Louvre. This was our meeting point for Ryan MacIsaac, our friend and co-worker from Arosa. (Although Ryan and I go back to our Sainte-Anne days in Nova Scotia.) Ryan had been there for a bit longer than us, so he started showing us around and we hung out for the rest of the day. First stop, le Notre Dame in the Ile de la Cite.
It was soon dinnertime, so we grabbed a Panini at a sandwich store and found a random spot by the Seine off of St. Germain to chow down. We were sitting behind the Notre Dame, cracking jokes from our working days and just taking in the scenery and environment (the back of the Notre Dame has a spidery structure). There were other groups of young French people having picnics by the Seine, with picnic cloths, tons of food and wine of course. After dinner, we trudged up to a bridge near the Notre Dame and chilled there while a bunch of street musicians played some music. There was the loveliest old woman ever, who was dancing by herself to the music. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. After that, we made our way back to St. Michel where we enjoyed an expensive coffee. I picked up the tab since I owed Ryan a few bucks back in Switzerland. It was also quite funny because the server totally looked down upon us. Love it when people are prejudice and condescending.August 26 - Paris cont'd
The next morning, we went to purchase our train ticket after confirming that it was okay for Christian and Steph that we arrived in the next few days. Yay, go me and my forgotten French skills! We got a ticket on one of those speed trains to Brussels for the 28th. From the train station, we walked into the Montmartre area (where Moulin Rouge is!) and visited the Sacre Coeur on the top of the hill. We also ate our lunch of home-made sandwiches (go student budgets go!) of salami and fresh cheese in baguettes. We walked through the streets filled with sex shops, peep show theatres and sex museums and arrived at the Moulin Rouge.
After our own tour of the Monmartre, we went back to St. Michel to go on our free tour of Paris. The tour guide was a pretty cool guy, telling us stories about many of the historical monuments we walked by. After the "free" tour (they work on tip), we slowly made our way to the eiffel tower for its light show. We stuck around for awhile, and decided to walk up at least to the 2nd floor of the immense structure of steel. On our way up, Joey accidently stepped on my flip-flop and effectively broke it. Needless to say, I have an unforgettable memory of my ascent, both visual and tactile, as my feet soaked in the grime of the thousands of shoes that had walked up and down the stairs that day. It wasn't that bad actually... the cold metal was nice in the warmth of the Parisian summer evening. I also managed to temporarily fix the flip-flop for the descent.
August 27th - Paris cont'dThe next morning, we woke up bright and early to beat the crowds at the Louvre.
Reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, we went straight for the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, you know, the good stuff. I'm not a huge art fanatic, but I think I will grow to become one once I'm older and have the time and money. There were tons of cool paintings, sculptures and artifacts. After a crude tour of the Louvre, we went off to find lunch. We decided to indulge a little and get a taste of upper class Parisian cuisine. We bought a sandwich with truffles at La maison de Truffe, and took a visit to Hediard and Fauchon for some cheese and quiche. To top it off, Joey got some wine from Nicolas for himself. We had a gourmet picnic on a strip of grass off of the Champs-Elysees. The St. Fecilien au lait cru (cheese) was SOO delicious! Speaking of it now makes my mouth water! After the picnic, we made our way back to the hostel to pick up our belongings and make our way to the train station. A quick one-hour ish ride later on the Thalys train, we were already in Belgium! A whole new country and a whole new experience awaited us!Belgium
August 28th - Bruxelles, la Belgique
Upon arrival that night, Christian and Steph picked us up from the train station. We just chilled and got settled in. We also found Rita awaiting us at their place! It was so strange to hang out with people you were so used to seeing in Toronto all together in a whole different country. Anyway, on the morning of the 28th, we were taken to the Palais de Justice and the Palais Royal, which happened to be open while we were there. (It's closed to the public 51 weeks of the year). There was an interesting display of a ceiling completely covered with beetles. How's that for art? We weren't allowed pictures, but Christian snuck one on his iPhone. I think he has yet to send it to us =P Oh well! Anyway, we drove to check out the town church and into the centre afterward and fit into a very narrow parking space via parallel parking. We then walked towards the Grande Place where we had a suculoo waffle. OMG. SOO different from the waffles we find in Toronto, but OH SO delectable! Once a year, they fill the entire square with flowers for some sort of festival. This time, we weren't there at the right time. Oh well! Later, we checked out the infamous peeing baby sculpture, that was in reality much smaller than expected. It's called the Mannekin Pis and apparently represented the co-habitation of French and Dutch-speaking people of Brussels. I also learned that the Smurfs and Tintin were Belgian, and that French fries had Belgian origins also! We went home after walking around the centre for awhile, and waited for Fred to come over after he got off work. It was so nice to see him again! (Once again, in Belgium and not Toronto for once!). We ordered some Chinese take out and had a feast at Christian and Steph's lovely and spacious home. Later that night, Christian took us out to see the Belgian balls ;) Also known as the Atomium in Heysel Park.
We called it an early night and just hung out at Steph's.August 29th - Brussels cont'd
The next day, we saw the atomium by daylight and then headed out to the Chinese pavilion and Japanese garden, which were gifts from the Chinese and Japanese governments respectively. It wasn't too interesting to me, due to my asian roots. It was also closed, so we just hung around for a bit, then left to downtown again.
We went to a bar which hit a world record for having the most number of different beer brands in one bar. I forgot the number -- somewhere in the thousands? There was a huge binder for their beer listing.
We ended the night with some greasy Belgian french fries in a huge paper cone. Steph went so far as having a hot dog WITH fries inside it as a garnish! Needless to say we had itis afterwards. After filling up on greasy food, we went out that night to some bars with Rita instead of visiting John Kelly in Antwerp. It was too far and we didn't want to make our lovely hosts drive! Plus, Rita had just moved out from Christian and Steph's place. She had already started her internship at DHL by that time. The bar-hopping was fun. First, we passed Brussel's very own red light district and caught a man being glamoured by one of the woman in the window. I wonder what she was doing, because the man did not move his car (in this one lane road) despite the piling traffic behind him for some minutes. We got a good laugh out of it. The bar was nice, but I just don't enjoy bars as much due to my sad tolerance for alcohol. After that, we enjoyed some grand turkish food at a donar kebab place next door before heading home for the night.August 30 - Bruges, De Haan, Oostende; Belgium
Today we had an awesome trip to the Western coast of Belgium, touring through Bruges (the city where In Bruges (Colin Farrell) was filmed, I later discovered). Before that, we had the most delicious croissants (even better than those I had in Paris!) Thanks Steph and Christian for showing me the light! =P In Bruges, we took a boat tour around the city (although we couldn't hear a thing the guy was saying since we sat at the back). After the tour and a quick walk through the town, we went to the area of De Haan for its beaches and stayed there for the day for some tanning. (It was a bit chilly and there was a lack of sun for some days in Brussels before we arrived). Christian and Steph were excited to get some tanning done! The beach was interesting, with lots of stage 1 succession bushes bordering the entrance to the beach. We stayed until the tide was low, and decided to head off to Oostende to find some dinner.
In Oostende, the restaurant we found was quite expensive, but we were satisfied with the random candy stand we found near the beach after dinner. =]August 31 - Brussels cont'd
The next morning we were so exhausted from our previous beach day, that we slept in a little bit. After packing and getting ready for the day, we went off to find some crepes for brunch. It was my first time having salty crepes and man were they delish! Christian then gave us a ride to the bus station to purchase our Eurolines bus ticket to Amsterdam. We then picked up some beverages and headed off to a park near the Africa Museum. We had a little picnic if I may. What a great way to end our Belgian adventure with great friends!
I had some Krieg's and.. an Orangina ;)Wow these postings take entire afternoons! >.<"
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